


Plans

by Elle_Lavender



Category: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 09:32:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14041293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elle_Lavender/pseuds/Elle_Lavender
Summary: A Sunset introspection, focusing on her relationship with Princess Celestia. I don't accept the comics as canon, so I don't tend to acknowledge them in my work.





	Plans

“Oh, I hadn’t planned things this way.” Princess Celestia explained with a good-natured chuckle to quests at one of many extravagant parties. Sunset listened by her side. She always did. At night, Sunset would stay awake, thinking on those words. Every night, the Princess stayed up for hours, just looking up at the moon, her eyes forlorn and filled with regret. 

Sunset was the Princess’s first personal student. But she wasn’t the one Celestia was waiting for. Sunset knew that all too well. She was waiting for the element bearers, for the one who’d bring Princess Celestia’s sister back to her. That was Celestia’s plan. 

Sunset’s new mentor never told her that, but the girl snooped into old archives with pieces of information. She went to the places she was not supposed to, and she observed. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together. 

Sunset didn’t have a special, magical destiny. She was only a girl with no parents, and an exceptional talent for magic that the Princess took in. Every smile, word of encouragement or embrace began to feel like an act of pity to Sunset. She was only a stand-in until Princess Celestia’s real star pupil arrived.  
So, Sunset made plans. Plans to prove that she was every bit as good as the ‘chosen one’ the Princess was waiting for.

Those plans filled her every day until they became all she thought about. Sunset couldn’t understand why the Princess continued to hold her back, why she refused to let Sunset be more than some nobody with no power of her own. 

She wanted to leave for another place, somewhere where she could start, where she’d appreciated. She ran to the mirror that led to a strange and unfamiliar world. The mirror was another piece of information Celestia had kept from Sunset. Just another thing Sunset had to discover on her own.   
Sunset didn’t plan on coming to a completely different world without magic or unicorns, or anything from home. She was scared and alone. Sunset did what she needed to get by and made new plans for when she returned home.

She won popularity, crowns, and fear. It was the only way, she told herself. And her plans were coming together. Until she lost herself to a magical crown. Brainwashing innocent people and attempted murder was never in Sunset’s plans. 

And at the bottom of a crater, broken and alone, those plans no longer mattered. Lost and uncertain, Sunset spent every day after her defeat stumbling towards becoming better. As the weeks past, she didn’t have a plan, just a heartfelt apology, an awkward smile and earnest attempt at kindness. 

The collapse of all her carefully made plans brought on confusion, frustration and hurt. And more freedom to be herself than ever before. 

Endless possibilities for her future kept her up at night. Sunset wasn’t the arrogant student out to prove herself anymore. In fact, she wasn’t sure how to define herself now. And that thought excited and terrified her. 

She tried to push aside the sense of loss and lingering regret she felt, focusing on her new life and search for identity. Sunset didn’t plan on seeing Princess Celestia again. 

But, Sunset’s plans never did work out. A part of her expected, even wanted this reunion. And so, she gave Celestia the same apology she’d rehearsed in her mind countless times over the years. Sunset hated the pity that she’d seen in Celestia’s eyes.

But, now with her head bowed, afraid to make eye contact, she’d prefer anything to the anger, scorn, and hatred she expected. However, with a gentle upwards tilt of her head, she looked into Celestia’s eyes. And saw acceptance and love from the only parent she’d ever known.

“I missed you, Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset’s smile was full of unabashed joy at those simple words. As she closed the gap between herself and Princess Celestia, it finally all made sense. When the two embraced, Sunset understood the one lesson her mentor could never teach her.

A plan gone astray can lead to the best things in life.


End file.
